Crosby Knocks Off Habs in Shootout

In what could have been a scene out of a Hollywood movie, Sidney Crosby found himself in position to deliver an elusive victory against one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. Crosby, who was the third Penguins shooter, watched as 3 Montreal Canadians and 2 Penguin teammates were stuffed in the game deciding shootout. He had probably played this scene out 1,000 times in his head as a young man growing up in Canada rooting for the Canadiens, though the scenario may have been reversed. Instead, Sidney was on the opposing blue line contemplating what he could do during his breakaway to beat a very stingy Jose Theodore and clinch a much needed win. Well, Sidney took the puck and skated towards Theodore with some speed, deked and faked a shot from the slot, before smoothly going to the backhand and roofing a bullet that sent Theodore's water bottle flying. The arena erupted as if it were a playoff game. Sidney had won the game and his father Troy, a one time Montreal draft pick, celebrated wildly with the rest of the crowd in Mellon arena.

Crosby scored the Penguins first goal of the game and Mario Lemieux staked the team to a 2-0 lead. The Penguins watched that lead evaporate as Montreal' Craig Rivet scored to make it 2-1 and Chris Higgins closed out the regulation scoring at 16:29 of the third.

Jocelyn Thibault also had a coming out party of sorts, notching his first victory of the season and his finest showing in a Penguins uniform. Thibault made 30 saves, many of them quality. He also stopped all three shooters in the shoot out, including sniper Alex Kovalev, who had to be frustrated after the game. Thibault robbed him numerous times throughout the evening. Thibault went on to earn number 1 star honors.


Penguins Notes:

The team called up Marc Andre Fleury from the Wilkes Barre Scranton Penguins. The move became a necessity after goalie Sebastian Caron strained a quad muscle during Wednesday nights 5-0 loss to the Atlanta Thrashers.

Maxime Talbot was helped off the ice after taking a shoulder/elbow to the head from Montreal forward Steve Begin. Begin received a 5 minute major for elbowing, a 10 minute misconduct and a 10 minute game misconduct.